Service Area

In most gardens an area for services is required.

This area should include the garden shed, tool storage space, clothesline, garden supplies storage, rubbish bins, and a vegetable or cut flower garden. In larger gardens the service areas may be divided and located in different places, out of sight of the living area. In smaller gardens these services are usually located together to maximise space or they are integrated into the garden itself. Where possible the service area should be easily accessed from indoor spaces such as the pantry, kitchen area or garage.

Where you can visually separate the service or utility area from the living area this is usually the best solution. You can put this space on the other side of a planting scheme, a hedge or a fence. If you have a large garden it might be possible to use your existing land-form in order to prevent it being seen from the house.

Where you can’t separate the areas to screen them from your day to day view, it is best to be bold!

Rather than seek to screen everything from view and risk drawing even more attention to it, why not paint the shed a really nice colour, make a feature of your washing-line and let the drying clothes contribute to the movement and colour in your garden. Incorporate compost and wheeled bins into nicely designed and constructed timber bins with opening sections to suit their purpose.

Why not create a garden that is all about celebrating the purely functional elements that one normally tries to hide. Has anybody made a garden where the compost bid, the vegetable garden, the shed and the clothesline provide the primary visual interest?

In the photographs there are two examples of sheds, one of the most utilitarian elements of the garden, one integrated into the garden design and the others painted some wonderful colours. Both examples show how it is possible not only to integrate something which is normally considered less than attractive, but to turn it into a pleasing entity in and of itself.

Be inventive and be bold and you will achieve results that will impress everybody.